I Gotta Do Just One Thing First
Throughout most of my life I’ve gone to church and in that time I’ve heard many people tell me, they can’t go because they have some things in their life to ‘get right’ first. In my opinion saying you need to work on you, or anything before you step foot into church is like saying you’re going to get better before you go to the hospital. Others have raised concern about going to church and being called a hypocrite. No one sin is greater then another at the foot of the cross. Because of that, we all fall short. There are no such things as a good person before God. There are believers and non-believers. We are all sinners and if our works before God are no better then a menstrual rag (yes that’s what it means in the Hebrew)
Ephesians 2:1-2 “2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,” Before Jesus we were sinners with no hope of salvation. After Jesus and the sacrifice needed to pay the blood debt to reset the balance, we are still sinners, but we are sinners by Grace we are given the Golden Ticket to Heaven in which the price is our heart. We all must one day stand before Christ at the foot of the cross and understand that it’s not about if we’ve sinned or not, it’s about where our heart and loyalties lie. If we truly believe that we need to be sinless before entering church you don’t have the fist clue who Jesus Christ is. No matter if you’re Christian, Buddhist, Wiccan, Muslim, or any other faith on the planet you are a sinner and thus all are welcome at the table of Christ, and his blood was spilt for everyone.
If you want to be happy in this world it’s important for you to be walking in Christ, and once you submit to that authority of the universe, you will then seek your spiritual gifts in order to pursue your God given talent in ministry for the Lord. It’s in purpose we find fulfillment, and it’s in that purpose we find our happiness. Must like our founding fathers knew that the pursuit of happiness would be one of faith, they also knew that many will seek it, but not all would find it. If you are not walking with the Lord you are walking in the world, and if you’re walking in the world, you’re walking with the demons in this life. You will walk in the lusts of the flesh, and you will only find the thorns never the rose.
God the father loves us, and when we wrong we expect to be disciplined. A fathers love, a true fathers love will never take enjoyment from punishing your children. As a parent disciplining your children is inevitable, but life never prepares you for the difficulty ahead. Our Father set the rules for us to follow, and how to love Him, but when we break the rules, we need that correction. Our Father gains no joy from our punishment. It’s never our works that will earn favor with the Lord. We can never do enough, but when we find ourselves longing for Christ, that’s when our hearts open, when we can submit to the Lord, and stop running from our calling. Ephesians 2:8-10“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Since works along will never be enough to save us from the dismal fate of Hell, we must seek a higher understanding of what it is the Lord wants of us. It seems so simple an idea, so beautifully crafted, that the only need necessary for the triumph of evil in your own heart, is hate. The difference between life and death lies solely in our own power. We can choose our own fate and yet, so few will know the Lord because of one reason or another. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 “11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
We want to believe we are the masters of our own ships, that no one, not even the ‘cosmic fairy’ from above can make us do something we don’t want to. While it’s true many people will fight the calling from the Lord, and many will be faced with signs that they should be doing something else, the Lord never forces anyone to do anything. Sure, much like a father, suggestions are made, guidance is given, but ultimately we still choose to follow or not. “Ask not what God can do for you, ask what you can do for God.”(Unknown)We are terminally sick, and the only cure is found in love. Strange so few will realize this, but its pride and vanity that will keep people away. When we think what we do is us, which I did something, that’s boasting and that’s like telling God you’re better then Him. In Ephesians 2:10 it talks about how we are created to be workmanship, that God is the potter, we are the clay, and we were made with divine purpose. I don’t know about you, but so many people ask their entire lives what their purpose is, and the answer is right in front of them the whole time. Follow Christ, submit to the Lord, and your purpose will flourish as your works in the Lord grows.
Everyone has a purpose, and when you say you have things to do before going to the Lord that’s your own pride talking. Equally if sin is a disease and you won’t go to the Doctor, you allow that stubborn sensibility get in the way of finding the cure for your sickness. Faith isn’t easy, but look at the Polio vaccine. While it wouldn’t cure Polio it did eventually eradicate it from existence in the 1stworld. People were skeptical of the vaccine and thought it was a trick, or too good to be true. Salvation is much in the same. It’s so easy; we are saved by love and grace. We love the Lord, and we are saved. It’s such a simple and small thing, yet so few will find the cure to the sickness that has engulfed our world. Don’t wait for you to get your life right before coming to Christ because there will always be one more thing, one more issue to deal with, one more problem you’ll face, and you’ll never find peace till you step up and accept Christ in your heart. Don’t waist your life in search of something that’s been right in front of you the whole time. God knew you before you were created. God loved you before you were conceived. God made you in your mothers womb for a purpose only you could fulfill. Stop looking for the meaning in your life in all the wrong places. Find your purpose, the reason for your existing in the only place that matters, at the foot of the cross.
The Arrow Preacher 